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Basic personal values and the meaning of left-right political orientations in 20 countries


Piurko, Yuval; Schwartz, Shalom H; Davidov, Eldad (2011). Basic personal values and the meaning of left-right political orientations in 20 countries. Political Psychology, 32(4):537-561.

Abstract

This study used basic personal values to elucidate the motivational meanings of ‘left’ and
‘right’ political orientations in 20 representative national samples from the European Social
Survey (2002-3). It also compared the importance of personal values and socio-demographic
variables as determinants of political orientation. Hypotheses drew on the different histories,
prevailing culture, and socio-economic level of 3 sets of countries—liberal, traditional and post-communist. As hypothesized, universalism and benevolence values explained a left orientation in both liberal and traditional countries and conformity and tradition values explained a right orientation; values had little explanatory power in post-communist countries. Values predicted political orientation more strongly than socio-demographic variables in liberal countries, more weakly in post-communist countries, and about equally in traditional countries.

Abstract

This study used basic personal values to elucidate the motivational meanings of ‘left’ and
‘right’ political orientations in 20 representative national samples from the European Social
Survey (2002-3). It also compared the importance of personal values and socio-demographic
variables as determinants of political orientation. Hypotheses drew on the different histories,
prevailing culture, and socio-economic level of 3 sets of countries—liberal, traditional and post-communist. As hypothesized, universalism and benevolence values explained a left orientation in both liberal and traditional countries and conformity and tradition values explained a right orientation; values had little explanatory power in post-communist countries. Values predicted political orientation more strongly than socio-demographic variables in liberal countries, more weakly in post-communist countries, and about equally in traditional countries.

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Additional indexing

Item Type:Journal Article, refereed, original work
Communities & Collections:06 Faculty of Arts > Institute of Sociology
Dewey Decimal Classification:300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology
Scopus Subject Areas:Social Sciences & Humanities > Social Psychology
Social Sciences & Humanities > Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Social Sciences & Humanities > Clinical Psychology
Social Sciences & Humanities > Philosophy
Social Sciences & Humanities > Sociology and Political Science
Social Sciences & Humanities > Political Science and International Relations
Uncontrolled Keywords:Values, Left-Right, Political Orientations, Liberal, Traditional, Post-Communist Countries
Language:English
Date:2011
Deposited On:16 Jun 2011 09:01
Last Modified:02 Jul 2022 09:41
Publisher:Wiley-Blackwell
ISSN:0162-895X
OA Status:Green
Publisher DOI:https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9221.2011.00828.x
  • Content: Accepted Version